Tuesday, January 18, 2011

I finally broke down.

I finally got myself a blog. Now, I'm not saying I'm special or anything because of it. I've avoided blogging for years because I felt I had nothing notable to say. I'm still not sure if I do, but I feel more comfortable with the idea of blogging. I felt I had to base it around a single thing, and not only that, important things, or else it wouldn't be a "real" blog. Well, eh, I don't really care anymore. I'm not going to make this blog about anything specific, sorry. It's not going to be a music blog or a political blog or a feminist blog or any of that (although I'm no doubt going to make posts pertaining to all three and more). I'm just going to post whatever the hell I want to, and if people read it, cool. I'm not really expecting anyone to, though, except my UG buddies. Shout-out to them.

You know, maybe I should have gone with Wordpress Nothing to see here, Google.

Okay, I suppose I should do a little introduction, in spite of my never-ending loathing for self-description. The reason why being that I know it's not really the real me I'm describing, but an idealized "me" that I've created over years and years of using the Internet and having to do many of these self-descriptions. You know, I really need to find my copy of Simulacra and Simulations, because that shit really interests me (hyperreality, pretentious poststructuralist bullshit, etc.), and for some reason, I bought the book and never have gotten around to reading it. It's a very short book, but I read the first chapter of it (The Precession of Simulacra) online a couple years back, and it rivals Conrad for sheer density. Another book I've never finished: Heart of Darkness. I had to read it back in high school, except, being me, I procrastinated and waited until the last couple of days, since I thought "Ah, it's only ninetysomething pages; I'll get it done in no time." I was wrong.

Shit, I digressed again. I have ADHD, you see, and as such I tend to think rather tangentially, digressing at random parts of a conversation (or blog, in this case). Hopefully this doesn't make it difficult to follow. I'd rather it not; it's just that I feel most comfortable writing in a style that may not be perfectly linear at times.

So that's two things you know about me, I guess. I like to read, except I have a tendency to buy books impulsively and not finish many of them, and I have ADHD. I'm also a socialist, or if you really want to label my brand of socialism, I suppose you could call me a libertarian Marxist. No, that's not contradictory, and if you want to tell me it is, I kindly tell you to get the fuck out of my blog.

Which brings me to the name of this blog. If you're not aware (and as much as I'd hope you are, you probably aren't), I named this blog (and also its URL, since someone else got the idea to name their blog this and take the URL away) after lines from "I Found that Essence Rare" by Gang of Four. What does that have to do with anything? Oh, just that they manage to make music with a radical message that isn't preachy (well, mostly not). Part of the reason why I think it's not is because they remain aware of the fact that they, as a band who are a part of the entertainment industry, are not innocent. And also because they've always gone for a more subversive message. Instead of being all "workers of the world, unite!" and stuff, they present the listener with lyrics that bring attention to the inherent contradictions in capitalist society, in hopes of making the listener conscious of the material conditions that surround him or her.

But enough of that. Here's the song. It's not the version they had on Entertainment!, but it's still good. It's from the Peel Sessions album. I actually found a vinyl rip of the Entertainment! version, but it sounds kinda bad. I'd recommend getting Entertainment!, obviously.

2 comments:

I forgot to add: the primary difference between the two versions is the production. The one on Entertainment is, like the rest of the album, extremely dry (which I like; I couldn't imagine Entertainment! with tons of studio effects), while this one has a "wetter" sound, with reverb, chorus, and stuff. I guess you could say it had better production quality, but I'd say that's a very subjective statement. The production reminds me somewhat of their follow-up, Solid Gold, which had a more "processed" sound. Really, I like both approaches to production, and I don't think one is inherently better than the other.